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[Page 138]
1916.
and in Lord Kitchener the British Empire lost a man it could ill afford to lose, especially at such a time, when he inspired confidence in everyone, & got so much out of each individual by the sheer respect in which he was held.
June 8.
After completing gunnery & torpedo exercises, we left to rejoin our battle scarred comrades of the Battle cruiser fleet, who were all garnered in the basin & dry docks at Rosyth.
June. 9.
The "Warspite", "Princess Royal", "Lion", "Southampton", & "Tiger", all showed that they had been in the thick of the encounter. Gradually, these ships were patched up, & in an incredibly short time, emerged from the Dockyard looking as if they had never been in action. We missed many familiar faces now that "Indefatigable", "Invincible", & "Queen Mary" were no longer amongst us.
July. 1.
No sooner had July been ushered in than the Fleet went to 2½ hours notice for full speed, & it remained so for a considerable time. Leave was given to visit places within a three mile radius during each afternoon, but the ship had to be sighted hourly when ashore, in case the "recall" had been hoisted. Apparently, this state of affairs was caused by the fact that the Germans had their available ships anchored in the roadsteads of Wilhelmshafen with the crews living on board, the usual custom being that the crews lived on shore in barracks, and the ships lay alongside